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I’ve had some free time on my hands lately and have been scouring etsy for coming home outfits which made me remember that I have a sewing machine and basic sewing skills. Duh! ***Side note: why do all coming home outfits have freaking arrows on them? Please, for the love of god, no more arrows people.

Not sure if I’m ready to tackle an entire outfit, but it did send me into the depths of the internetz to find some easy baby sewing projects that will keep me busy on the weekends. And who knows, maybe I will be ready to try and sew her something to wear by the end of the summer!

So here’s what I’ve been working on. Most were made with scraps of fabric I had collected over the years. Gotta love almost free projects!

Taggie blanket that crinkles! The secret to a good crinkle you ask? Plastic cereal bags. Mind blown.

Man, these are kinda fun to make! Been racking my brain for the perfect nursery design that isn’t too baby or girlie and fits in with the rest of our home. I wanted it to feel colorful with an ode to the outdoors AND be able to grow with her. Oh and not break the bank! I can’t believe folks fork over $500+ for a crib alone! This budget mama isn’t having that.

I immediately fell in love with these baby animal prints and everything else started to fall into place. I admit, the rug was a bit of a battle with the hubby as he did not like it. Actually, I think he hated it at first! I searched and searched but couldn’t find anything that matched his vision. Who knew he had such expensive taste in rugs? In the end, we negotiated (thank you fantasy football!) and the rug is now on its way 🙂

I did do a bit of measuring the other day and am now unsure if the glider will fit. I love the idea of having a chair in there, but not to the determent of having zero space. I’ve seen some cool, vibe-y rocking chairs that would totally fit but they don’t look very comfortable. We do have some space out in the living room so perhaps we’ll go with a comfy chair out there for nursing? Ugh. Decisions.

Well, we pulled the trigger and just completed our main bathroom remodel! Guys, I’m so excited about this! We’ve been bathing in a fairly disgusting, chipping green tub for the past two years and I’d been dreaming about the day when it’d head to the dump (along with the green, bum-pinching toilet and tiny sink!) Mark January 5, 2016 as the day folks! It finally happened.

We left the actual remodel to the professionals and hired Sanco Construction per a co-workers recommendation. Owner Scott and I chatted about what Adam and I wanted back in mid-December and he gave us a very reasonable estimate and timeline. I’d got a few other bids, but they must think a gal like me is s-t-u-p-i-d because they overbid, like way overbid. I’m not going to pay $20k for a new bathroom unless it’s 100% gold yo! One even directed all of the questions to Adam, even though it was well established that I was the woman in charge. Cool guys, real cool. But I digress…

We didn’t mess with the footprint at all as the space is quite small. They only thing we added was a ceiling fan because showers = maj steam. Not sure how the previous owner went without one! We also didn’t go crazy with high end fixtures or tile work. We just wanted a timeless, clean look. So here’s where we started (I’m almost embarrassed to show these!) Looking forward to sharing the final after pictures with you shortly! Stay tuned…

It wouldn’t be the new year without some new improvements happening around the hizzle! We are doing a huge main bathroom overhaul within the next week that I’ll be posting about soon, but in the meantime, I give you painting linoleum floors! I completed this project right before the holidays. Here’s how it all went down:

We have the fugliest floors covering half our house and as much as I’d love to just rip them all out, it’s just not in the cards quite yet. I suspect it’ll be when we remodel the kitchen in like 10+ years. L-a-m-e.

The ugliness goes from our hallway/laundry area, into the half bath and ends in the kitchen. I hate, hate, hate the rust color. It goes with NOTHING and is just plain dated. No matter how I decorated or rearranged things, the color was not going away. I wanted a temporary, inexpensive fix that would blend in with our hardwood floors in the entry and allow me to actually style our spaces a bit. In comes good ole Pinterest and a post about painting over vinyl/linoleum floors. Genius! This is a high traffic area and I did worry about it not holding up, but I’m always open to trying something new if it doesn’t break the piggy bank.

So here’s what I did:

Found a dark brown paint that matched the hardwood floors. I used a porch/floor paint like the article suggested.

Removed the old, plastic trim from all of the areas. I knew I was going to replace it anyways so off it went.

Swept and washed the floors with soap and water. I guess I could have TSP’ed it, but I was a bit lazy.

Taped off anything I didn’t want to get paint on. I only taped my prized TOTO toilet and the place where I wanted the paint to stop.

Applied one thin coat of primer with a brush and a roller. Dried with a large box fan.

Applied two coats of paint with a brush and a roller. Dried with a large box fan.

Applied two coats of sealer with just a brush. The roller didn’t work well with the thinness of the sealer. Dried with a large box fan.

This took me one day for the primer and paint, then a second afternoon for the sealer. I originally thought the paint would hold up by itself, but after a week I got a bit concerned with chipping and scratching so researched a “greener” type sealer. I ended up going with AMF Safecoat Hard Sealer. The Green Depot in Seattle carries all sorts of ‘green’ products like this. A bit pricey, but so great to have that option.

I’ve been fairly happy so far as to how things turned out. It was an easy project that made a world of difference in those spaces. I just hope it holds up!

**Update: We’ve had the floors for about two months now and they aren’t holding up like I’d like them to. The sealer seemed to help a bit, but we’ve still had some major scratches. We also had to replace our washer and dryer and that unfortunately led to many new chips. I tried touching them up, but the additional coats of sealer have left a hazy glaze over places. If you have to touch spots up, I’d recommend just using the paint and not the sealer. Lesson learned.

I tell ya, a new toilet is something to shout from the rooftops in our household! We were blessed with not only a mauve one but a green one upon the purchase of our house. You know these bad boys are O-L-D when they match the sink AND the tub. Every time I flushed, it was like watching $10 of water going down the drain. What a waste! So we got our act together and decided to replace our half bath first, since it gets the most use. I ordered a TOTO Drake off of Amazon per our handyman’s suggestion. I was a bit hesitant to order a toilet online, but it showed up on our door step the following week all nice like! The only downside is that it came with a ton of packaging which won’t even fit in our garbage can. Womp womp.

Before doing all of this toilet online ordering stuff, I learned that the City of Seattle offers up a $75 rebate if you upgrade to a water efficient toilet on their list. Happy dance! I also learned that their list is hella complicated and this gal ordered the wrong one and will not be getting the rebate. Yeah, pretty freaking cool. I’m not bitter. I only checked their list like 50 times before ordering. UGH. Regardless, we trudged along and now have this beaut. I’m trying to put the rebate loss out of mind but you know the next time around, that rebate is MINE.